Review Of Eric Hoffer's Propaganda Video 'Train Busters'

Eric Hoffer, an American author and philosopher, once said, “Propaganda does not deceive people; it merly helps them to deceive themselves.” In Canada, along with many other countries, propaganda was important to World War II and still is today. It helped convince people to fight in combat and to help create resources for the war. During the war, the call for people to fight was high. In 1944, Sydney Newman released a propaganda video called Train Busters. This film promotes the idea of war, giving off the sense of bravery and happiness with its soldiers, weapons, and music with a patriotic tone in the background. The video features a battle between Canadian planes and German trains, and in this battle it doesn’t feature anyone dying. This

This is manipulating their thought, death was a common thing in war. Canada lost 45,000 people in WW2, which is more than American’s lost per-capita. The emphasis of flying planes is also very important to the war for Canadians and Great Britain. Many Canadian’s worked along with Great Britain's Royal Air Force, and this is emphasised with the flag, containing both of their symbols, that is waved towards the end. This push for enlistment also would’ve affected one major date in WW2, June 6th, 1944 or D-Day. Without Propaganda, such as Train Busters, that encouraged people to enlist there wouldn’t have been so many soldiers rallied together on that day to fight. This was a crucial day in the war, being so close to the end of it and freeing so many people. The troops were made up of

One of the most valued resources was food. People in Germany were told that their taking over of land was good because they’d gain ‘lebensraum’, translated to living space, which meant they’d get more room to farm. The call for people to get food was desperate everywhere, including Canada. One important piece of propaganda is a “Save Waste Bones” advertisement. One description says that, “Propaganda constantly encouraged Canadians to reuse and recycle so that salvaged material could be turned into war material, including explosives. Here, they are asked to save leftover cooking bones to be processed into glue for aircraft like the poster's Wellington bomber” (Canadian Wartime). Similar to the fighting propaganda, it emphasises the use of planes and bombs because that was a valued part of their fighting. The reasoning and connection to the troops directs this towards the people back home. Many people had friends or family fighting, so the connection to the troops would’ve brought a personal touch to the situation so they’d help out. Another piece of propaganda was made by Hubert Rogers, “This award-winning poster by freelance illustrator Hubert Rogers depicts a soldier with a machine gun, an industrial worker with a rivet gun, and a woman with a hoe. The Wartime Information Board… Probably guided Rogers in advance to create a balanced composition” (Canadian Wartime). This piece of